Wild Listening: Ecology of a Science Podcast

From science journalism to educating a pandemic-wise public: Inquiries into the “NDR coronavirus-update” podcast

“…While they only saw a “linear” increase until 2010, they then grew “exponentially” (MacKenzie 2019: 16). Although many podcasts present their individual episodes as a “self-contained unit” (Barrios-O’ Neill 2018: 149), “seriality” has emerged as a “prominent feature” (Rime et al, 2022: 1265). With one overarching theme across 113 episodes, the NDR “Coronavirus-Update” podcast exhibited a particularly long-lasting seriality.…”

“…With one overarching theme across 113 episodes, the NDR “Coronavirus-Update” podcast exhibited a particularly long-lasting seriality. What all forms of (successful) podcast have in common, however, is that a community of listeners has formed around them (Barrios-O’ Neill 2018: 153) who do not just listen in randomly (as in radio), but subscribe to the “RSS feeds” (Birch and Weitkamp 2010: 891). In addition to this technical “interactivity” (Rime et al, 2022: 1272), the NDR “Coronavirus-Update” podcast benefited from the immense feedback from listeners, who sent 14,000 emails in the first 8 weeks, some of whose questions were also answered in the podcast.…”

“…In contrast to “repackaged radio content,” the podcast examined here is a “native podcast” (Nee and Santana 2022: 1564), which was later repackaged for radio. Like many other science podcasts, it was designed as a “conversational podcast” (Barrios-O’ Neill 2018: 147). While in many podcasts journalists interview other journalists, this podcast involved people “who have reputations as researchers and combine these with communicative skills” (Pasternack and Beer 2022: 61).…”

Breaking Green Ceilings: podcasting for environmental and social change

“…Podcasting is a format that easily allows “expression of compound and networked forms of knowledge” (Barrios-O’Neill 2018 , p. 147). Thus, in the extended and conversational interview format of a podcast, complex issues can be given the time and depth needed.…”

“…Supporting social media and additional information can also help present multi-faceted, interdisciplinary topics. Podcasts can use “conversation as a mode of inquiry” (Barrios-O’Neill 2018 , p. 151). The Breaking Green Ceilings (BGC) podcast’s themes demonstrate how environmental issues are interconnected with racial, cultural, social, economic, and political issues and that historically underrepresented communities are disproportionately impacted by climate change, environmental degradation, and loss of biodiversity.…”